First Steps Onboarding Info
Welcome to the CheckIn family! We are looking forward to an amazing time together! Please review this document thoroughly as it describes everything you need to have in place before we can start onboarding you. Direct any questions you may have to: CheckIn Support.
Table of Contents:
Server
Your CheckIn™ Server must be a new Mac (base model Mac Mini for $599 is totally fine) or a Mac not older than 3 years with minimum 256GB SSD drive (512GB preferred for those with larger operations and more than 2 stores) and minimum 8GB of RAM. (16GB preferred) with at least one local and one cloud backup. *( A 2nd backup is highly suggest and recommended to be a clone of the boot drive)
- You can reach out to our sister company DoctorMac at [email protected] to place (your tax free order for most states) or you can order from Apple or your local Apple Reseller.
- The Mac Mini is a tiny computer at 1.4 inches tall by 7.7 inches wide and does not come with a keyboard or mouse. You can use any PC or Mac keyboard or mouse and will need to have these attached to your Mac server in order to do the basic log in and setup of your Admin account and to setup our remote access software to allow us to connect for the setup.
- You will also need a display to attach to the mini. Any monitor will do that has an HDMI port and the cable that came with it. Our you can purchase one of these relatively inexpensive displays from Amazon: 1. A small tiny 15” display that sits right on top of the mini via this Amazon link (when not needed for the server this can double as an extra display for your laptop or desktop as well) 2. or a standard 17” display at this link.
Network
Since CheckIn requires a server to operate, having a healthy gigabit ethernet network in place is highly recommended (a must for your registers) and along with a new gigabit hub/switch instead of using the ethernet port from your router/modem. You can of course rely on a stable wireless network for all other non register computers and iPads.
- You can order a new gigabit ethernet switch/hub; either a 5 port via this link or an 8 port model via this link
- You will need an ethernet cable for the server, each register and cutting table as well as for your credit card terminal.
- For ethernet cables this is a good brand you can trust from Amazon via this link and just order sizes and colors you need.
Workstations
We truly feel that the entire Quilt/Fabric/Sew community should use the beautiful Apple iMac all in one computers at their registers as they are very nice looking and come in a variety of colors that will look so very nice in your shops. Not to mention - Apple computers work so well and will last a long time and the built in software will allow you to get creative and produce nice materials for your shop such as signs and posters etc. Of course CheckIn will work with Mac & PC and the iPad. The iPad would be a great device to use at your cutting table and you can order it in a color to match the iMac.
Workstation Specifications:
- Your Macintosh computer should have Mac OS 12 or higher
- PCs need Windows 10 Pro or Windows 11 Pro operating system.
- Minimum specs are 8GB of Memory & an SSD hard drive in your Mac or PC.
- iPads should be on iOS 17 or later
- If your computers are more than 5 years of age and don’t have the above specs, upgrade them or purchase new for the best experience!
Card Processing for US Customers
Get onboarded with CheckIn’s integrated credit card processing partner by visiting the Payment Logistics Site (now called Fortis) site: https://www.paymentlogistics.com/checkinpos
- Click on the Get Started button in the middle of the screen or call the toll free # to get in touch with an onboarding rep. We will also have them reach out to you as well. As mentioned, they promised to meet or beat what your current rates are with your existing processor. You will have the opportunity to purchase a terminal or lease one if you prefer. Purchasing is often best since it’s most cost effective long term. (They will need copies of your last month’s process statements to help you move forward)
- Once onboard, then visit https://pll.formstack.com/forms/checkinpos_paylink_registration to setup your PayLink account. This will allow you to use the PayLink and Repeat Sale function of CheckIn which make collecting money from customers easy via a payment link and charging a card again from a previous sale.
- *It’s advised that each workstation that checks customers in and out should have it own credit card terminal. If your volume of transactions is not very high you may be able to share one terminal with 2 workstations. There will only be an issue if you can’t wait 45 seconds before processing the next sale. Otherwise limited sharing is fine!
- *(For Multi-store users, you will need to let Payment Logistics know how many terminals you need and the name of each store location.)
*Card Processing for AU and Canadian Customers:
You will also need to get onboarded with Clover payments processor. Please fill out your contact info on their portal so a rep can reach out to you to get the onboarding process started: Via this link or you can email [email protected] You will have the option to purchase or lease the Clover terminal. This process takes about a week or two with document review, sing-offs and the setup of the terminal. Once your account is setup and you receive your terminal please email CheckIn Support so we can help you with the CheckIn setup for the terminal.
Exporting/Importing Data
CheckIn can import anything your current POS can export. For most POSs out there - not much data can be exported over from one POS system to another other than just basic stuff such as customer and product info in their basic form.
- For those wanting to import data from Lightspeed Onsite see our PDF called “Exporting Data from Lightspeed Onsite to CheckIn”
- For Lightspeed Retail users or users from another cloud solution: try to export anything you can or desire and email us the file for review and quote.
- Use the attached CheckIn import templates for the customers and products you are exporting.
- Place all files into a folder named with your company name and compress them with a right click of the mouse and email them to CheckIn Support
*Customer Template info to know about:
- For Customer template enter C in the Type Column if there is a company name for that contact or enter I if its and individual.
- Only enter Customer ID if your app exports this info
- For Tax Status only enter Exempt if you wish otherwise you can leave blank
- For Tax Code you can enter your default tax code/name you currently use or leave blank
- FYI: Let us know which phone field you want us to import into the CheckIn Primary phone field on a customer card.
*Product Template info to know about:
- FYI: CheckIn uses the Product ID to bring bar codes on a product label. If you want to not replace the labels currently on your products at the start then make sure you enter that data into the Product ID column. (if you don't add this that is ok we can add our own but if you add this it will allow current label bar codes to work)
- Product Code is the manufacturers code
- Manufacturer is the name of the Manufacturer
- Sell is Retail price you usually sell the item at
- For Tax Status only enter Exempt if you wish otherwise you can leave blank
- Enter the number 1 in the Inventory - Current and Serialized columns if you want to flag those products as such otherwise 0 (Zero) if you do not want then to be marked as such.
- Minimum Margin, Color, Size and Notes are optional
- Department - use what you have but this is a good time to make them better or more logical etc. as many folks never thought through this well and have too many.
- Category is like a sub department. This is good to use in order to drill down for better reporting on what is selling and where total sales are coming from etc. for example: A Dept. would be Notions and a Category would be Fasteners or needles or cutters etc. OR a Dept can be Sewing Machine and categories can be Brother, Bernina, Handi Quilter etc.
*Sale Transactions:
We can import anything as long as your current POS can export data properly. We can import your sales transactions/invoice data as long as that data contain UID (Unique IDs for the line items and your customers and products also contain UID so we can match everything up properly to bring into CheckIn
IMPORTANT: Many folks have similar SKUs for different products and that will obviously not transition data to CheckIn perfectly keep in mind.
For POSIM users please use the provided field definition template to bring into POSIM to get the proper export file.
For LikeSew users just use our template and remove the timestamp from the date column please!
FileMaker
CheckIn is built using Apple’s amazing FileMaker database environment and your FileMaker subscription details will be emailed to you.
- Once your CheckIn server is setup, please email us at [email protected] to let us know your server is up and running and we will install the FileMaker Server & client on your Server. (also email us the admin name & password you have setup for the server to assist us with installation)
- You are responsible for backing up your FileMaker database. We will gladly advise you but you should read about what you should do here: https://support.claris.com/s/article/Creating-backups- with-FileMaker-Server-1503692961205?language=en_US#2
- We offer server and backup monitoring as an add-on option, please reach out for more info.
- If you want to install FileMaker on your workstations before we do for any reason please download FileMaker Pro 2023 (v20) if using Mac OS 12 and above otherwise download v19. - If you are installing on a Window workstation please make sure you are running Window 10 or 11 Pro.
We will of course install FileMaker for each workstation during our onboarding so don’t fret if you do not want to install FileMaker.
You can find all the info you need to download the version of FileMaker you need from this page.
For Shopify Users
CheckIn products sync with your Shopify store both pushing and pulling data around every 10 minutes to keep inventory levels and other data in sync. In order to get Shopify to sync with CheckIn you will need to: Define your store name in Company Setup in CheckIn (it’s your actual Shopify store name ex. alamosaquilt.myshopify.com that can be seen in your web browser url or in your Shopify settings. ) - To do so please follow the below steps…
Obtain an API Access Token:
Setup a CheckIn Developer App within Shopify by going to the Settings section and clicking on Apps and sales channels.
Click on the blue text called “Click Here to Do That” (this will take you to Shopify)
Now you will be in your Shopify settings portal. Then at the top right of this section click on Develop apps
Now click the Create an app button and name is CheckIn then click Create App
Now in the App development section on the Configuration tab.• Click the configure button to the right of the “Admin API integration” section
No for the fun part…make sure you click on Every check box you see in the main window that appears! When done click the Save button you see at the top of bottom of this section.
Now go to the API Credentials tab and click on the Install app button you see in the first section called Access tokens.
Click the Install button on the window that pops up.
Now at the Admin API access token section at the top click Reveal token once in order to see your token to then highlight and past it into the CheckIn Shopify setup section. *(You can only reveal this token once. If do not copy it at the first go, you won’t be able to see the token again and will have to follow this whole process again keep in mind!)
Now paste in your token into the CheckIn API Access Token field within CheckIn (or save it to give it to your CheckIn onboarding team)
Now enter 2023-01 in the API Version field
CheckIn store location name match and must be entered in Shopify exactly the same way
Click on the blue text called “Click Here to Do That”
Click on your default location listed in the Locations section of Shopify setting you are taken to.
Adjust the name at the top section call Location name to match what you see in the CheckIn Store Name field at the bottom half of the Shopify setup section in CheckIn.
Now click the Save button after it appears after your update is made.
Now you need to Check Shopify Locations by clicking on the button with this same name while in the CheckIn Shopify setup section. (This happens in the blink of an eye and just pull down the Shopify Location ID for your store)
As you know, Shopify is a great platform and as we like to say - best in class - but it does not natively work with fractions. If you are planning on selling items fractionally please read below…
Fractional Selling:
CheckIn’s Shopify integration offers a free tool that allows the option of selling items by fractions of 1/8, 1/4 and 1/2. Our tool will automatically convert the pricing and stock level accordingly.
Sew Much Commerce:
If your shop works with this nice group of folks and subscribes to their Shopify service which allows your clients to choose from available fractions you have setup, CheckIn will also account for this as well in our Shopify integration on the backend.
Checkers Distributor Setup
Get setup to use our CheckIn integration with Checkers via the instructions below in order to get access to such things as price, product and inventory lookups. (This does not need to be done now - can be done anytime after your CheckIn server is setup)
- Log into your Checkers portal - Once you log in and on your dashboard - you can go to the section titled POS DATA. Then there is a subsection called POS DATASTREAM with a title that says "YOUR UNIQUE IDENTIFIER”. That is all you need. It will be a UUID code. (If you have any issues please email: [email protected] and provide as much information as possible)
- Have this code handy for you CheckIn Admin review and onboarding.
Congratulations!
You are on your way to being an important part of our CheckIn community
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